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Board Meeting Minutes Archive » BOD Meeting Minutes – May 13, 2014

BOD Meeting Minutes – May 13, 2014

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

ABS 7th Street Building

Winston-Salem, NC

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

 

Members: Robin Hollis, Eric Prior, Mary Benton, Leigh Cameron-Atkins, Joan Marie Belnap, Charles Cleveland, Renee Semones, Doug Punger, Amy Lanning, Chad Cleveland, Bill Wright, Gayle Anderson

 

Guests: Liz Green, Julee Nunley, Paige Raper
AGENDA

  1. Meeting Called to Order – 5:45PM

Eric called the meeting to order at 5:49pm.

  1. Approval of April 2014 Minutes – ACTION REQUIRED – 5:45-5:47PM

Eric asked for approval of the minutes. Chad made a motion to approve the April minutes. Leigh seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously.

  1. Principal’s Report (Robin) – 5:47-5:55PM

Robin distributed results from the annual ABS Parent Satisfaction Survey. Overall, parents gave the school very high marks. Charles asked about comparing the data across years. Robin will disaggregate data and distribute comparisons. We usually have very high marks each year.

Hiring & Staffing: We are currently accepting application for and interviewing for a middle school science teacher. We are also looking for a second grade teacher. There are additional staff positions listed in the budget. We will solicit for those positions once there is budget approval of the positions.

OHSA update: Robin had an informal meeting with OSHA. They only agreed to reduce penalties by 30%. The board executive committee decided to contest the penalties. We are filling our formal paper work. We will have a hearing in Raleigh in the next 90 days for next steps.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx visited the school today. She toured the school with administrators and Eric Prior. She also visited with 5th graders.

  1. Review of YTD financial statements (Renee) – 5:55-6:00PM

Renee reviewed financials YTD. Bottom line: We are at $198,000 surplus at this point in year (in addition to $200,000+ reserve). There are no concerns in this year’s budget. We expect to end the year within/at budget. There are places where we are under budget, so if needed, we have wiggle room at the end of the year. Committee is hopeful we will end the year with a surplus, in addition to the operating reserve. Bill asked about the latest capital campaign update. We will put the First Tennessee Bank contest winnings into the capital campaign. The budgeted line item for Capital Campaign is only for 2013-2014 and does not include what came in last year, or what is pledged for following years.

  1. Approval of 2014-15 Budget – ACTION REQUIRED – 6:00-6:15PM

Eric tabled the approval of budget for June board meeting and asked to use time to discuss the budget for next year. We are looking to adding roughly 3 new positions. We are estimating an increase in revenue due to: having 60 more students; and an increase in ADM funding. The ADM number was given to us as a planning per pupil allotment; it was sent to us before the governor announced a possible increase for teacher salary and textbooks. We are estimating 510 children. We can have 544 based upon our charter. We are increasing student population by 11%, so many categories were increased by roughly 11%, such as books and supplies, etc. We anticipate an increase in technology expenses. There is a reduction in Contracted Student Services because much of that line item was pushed into salaries. Robin clarified that Acadia has suggested recoding of several “instructor” positions. They are not teachers, so they can’t be coded as such, but Acadia suggested to recode them as “teacher assistant” (ex: drama teacher, production assistant, band…) Because of increase in students with addition of 8th grade, there will be an increase in hours for some part-time teachers. They will all still remain PT. Instead of hiring more full-time core teachers, we are bumping up the hours of PT teachers in order to accommodate new student load. Mary asked why teacher assistants was larger after looking at the line items that were shifted there. Robin explained that we over-budgeted last year and did not spend all that was allotted for “Arts Services” and “Resident Artists” so in recoding the new budget items as “teacher assistants,” that line item is not as large as what might have been expected. We were able to reduce several of those budget items when recoding them, even with increase in hours. The finance committee is working hard to understand how Acadia codes everything. Robin noted that field trip expenses also includes parents paying in for a charter bus, and so we have some revenue toward that expense.

Staff development: Workshop expenses has been decreased due to the new budget item of part time curriculum coordinator, which will provide, in-house staff development. We increased reserves by approximately 10%. Key man Insurance is not a line item in the budget because it is bundled into insurance line item. Debt service is equipment leases: copiers, servers, routers, phones, etc. Building rent is going up based on set schedule. Facilities: we reduced building repairs and maintenance. We agreed to set aside $45-50,000 for capital reserve, and $25,000 annually for operating reserve. We are budgeting above that. Doug suggested a separate budget (3 year) for capital campaign budget revenue/expense by year. Contracted Custodial Services has increased and is based on actuals from this year. Last year was “best guess,” but we under-budgeted for moving to having 2 buildings. Gayle noted that included a YTD actual column for comparisons would be helpful for next year. Mobile communications was because of cell phones being used in the Goler building last year. We will amend the budget in October based on actual number of students and actual ADM funding.

Robin discussed the increases in Salaries section. Paige distributed an administrative positions comparison chart (ABS; ArtsSpace (Black Mt.); Millenium (Mt. Airy); Summit (W-S)) to be able to compare the positions we have versus other schools. Many jobs in other school are done at central office, but we do not have a central office to do those things for us. Paige noted duties that are typically done at central office level. Based on this year’s budget, salaries would be 49.8% of budget. Budget is built around everyone who is eligible for insurance (hospitalization and dental) being in the budget. Not all are choosing to take benefits currently, but we want to be sure that we’ve budgeted for it in case they choose to begin taking benefits.

Robin clarified that some arts services and instructional services contracted last year, are put into teacher assistant, but Spanish teacher was put into teacher salary, because she is certified. So some of the increases in salaries are due to recoding. Doug asked for a chart comparing the number of full-time and part-time staff last year versus this year. Robin will create that. Teacher assistant is increased now because of 2 part time drama teachers Band, and Visual Art. The budget includes salary increases and new positions. Gayle asked if increases were considered for National Boards, etc. Robin noted we have several teachers who have earned National Board Certifications, Masters degrees, AG, performance (merit raise), which is roughly $58,000 increase. We are consistent in recognizing advanced degrees for teachers. We have a 5th grade teacher leaving and will be moving a Kinder teacher into that position. We have hired a kinder assistant/student teacher to move into the Kinder position. Contracts will go out once the budget is approved by the state. Position increases constitutes about $110,000, including curriculum coordinator and science teacher. We are increasing hours for receptionist in 7th St. building. Production assistant hours have been increased. We have budgeted $25,000 as the place holder for the curriculum coordinator position. Lunchroom is not a new position, but it appears as new line item at $9,000. Robin is not sure why that expense has been pulled out. Summer camps are included under “Clubs Stipends.”  EC is increased due to increased student enrollment. Administration includes all admin and front office employees (receptionists, office manager, business manager, etc.). Mary B. asked about the bus driver line item. Robin explained that his expense is included in various places: mechanic, repairs, and field trips. “Bonus” line remains the same for compensating teachers for possible over enrollment. 20 K-5, 25 for 6-8 is the norm. We may need to compensate 6-8 teachers for additional work load if class sizes are too big. Bonus is prorated based on number of students and days.

Eric reminded the board that we need to approve the budget in June. Eric noted that he does not sense any major concerns from board about anything in the proposed budget. Mary requested that there be an actuals column for comparison’s sake. Doug asked for a 1 page narrative that points out the highlights and changes in the budget. Bill asked about a balance sheet for reserve accounts to know at the end of the year what each reserve account holds. Renee noted that we get a trial balance on a quarterly basis from Acadia.

  1. New Board Member Nominations (Charles) – 6:15-6:25PM

We are in the process of identifying board members. We have three members rotating off. We are looking for people in the area of accounting, marketing, technology. We’re losing Hal, Mary, and Gayle.

  1. Review draft of proposed Financial Stability Strategy (Charles) – 6:25-6:45PM

Financial Stability Strategy will be discussed at the next meeting.

  1. Other Business – 6:45-6:55PM

Community Creates brought in $27,000 (gross) this year. The First Tennessee sponsorship of $3,000 helped. More sponsorships will help. Hauser Rental gave huge discount (75%), so we called them sponsors as well. The auctioneer was free!

  1. Adjournment – 6:55PM

The meeting was adjourned at 7:26pm.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

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